Heels Over Head
by that-mad-girl-in-the-corner
Summary: Trapped in a world in the middle of a war with only four rampaging teenage boys for allies, Lily's life is about to get very interesting. Can she learn love, the boys she swore she would hate forever when they are the only ones she can trust? Read and Review!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Looking back over Open Doors it needed some serious editing so I decided to start it fresh, but with a lot of the same ideas, so if you've read that story it will be quite similar for the first few chapters. Anyway please review with ideas and comments!**

Number Nine Peachdale Close was a normal everyday house, and like every other house down that small avenue was dark at this late hour. The curtains were closed, but you could still see a soft glow shining from a window on the top floor.

The house was empty apart from two teenage girls, who's parents had gone away for the weekend, one was sound asleep while the other sat in her room, where the soft glow was shining from. The young redhead girl tiptoed around her room, trying her best not to wake her sleeping sister down the hall. She rubbed her emerald eyes and yawned, but kept tiptoeing around the room, not allowing herself to go to sleep. She stopped next to her window and pulled the curtains slightly to the side, looking down the street. Outside was in total darkness, except for the orbs of light, the streetlamps provided, glowing brightly against the seemingly never-ending blanket of darkness. She looked again down the street and seeing nothing out of the ordinary quickly moved away from the window.

Lily Evans was a seventeen-year-old witch. She attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and was about to start her seventh and final year there in only two weeks time. She was now of age and could perform magic whenever she liked or needed to. Of course being muggle-born she still did the majority of work manually, which some thought to be silly when she could do anything with the flick of a wand, but she was brought up that way and still wanted some sort of muggle lifestyle in her life.

Lily whisked her long red hair up into a messy pony tail, and pulled out her wand tapping it nervously on the leg of her jeans, causing blue sparks to shoot at her bookshelf making them an all mighty bang when they dropped to the floor. Lily froze waiting to hear her sister, Petunia's; shrill shriek for her to be quiet, but nothing came. Lily let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and padded out her bedroom door and down the hallway to her sister's, carefully closing the door behind her. Open doors were like gate ways to hell, you never know what could jump out.

Her sister's door was painted a dull, in comparison to Lily's bright yellow, white with not a single personal touch. Pushing the door open slightly Lily saw her sister lay on her bed, curly blonde hair in a tight bun, fast asleep. Lily smiled and silently closed the door, rushing back to her room. Once inside she checked the window, but seeing nothing again, almost relaxed. Almost.

He said that they would come. Tonight, he said they would come tonight. He made her promise not to tell, and she wasn't even sure if she could even trust him, but for some foolish reason she still did. She promised not to tell, but was still ready just in case. What would really happen if she did call the Aurors? She didn't have to tell them who had told her. Lily rushed to her owl who was safely asleep in her cage, but stopped mid stride. They would make her tell wouldn't they? Demand for her to tell her the information so they could arrest him. She couldn't do that, because he had warned her. They may not still be friends but Severus had warned her, and she couldn't stab him in the back after what he had told her. She could run, she supposed, but then what would happen Petunia? She couldn't leave her even if she did hate Lily, they were sisters and that was just unthinkable, at least Lily being here she could at least try and protect them both. Even if it was naïve to think she could even try to fight them off.

Taking deep breaths, Lily stood and began pacing again. With every option there were pros and cons. She didn't know what to do. Lily even at one point contemplated owling her friends, but they would tell their parents who would get the Aurors involved anyway. She could tell her Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, whom she knew she could rely on, but wouldn't he tell the Aurors too? Or maybe he would just help her? Yes! Why hadn't she thought of this before?

Lily ran towards her owl again, after pacing while thinking, but just as she opened the cage, a popping sound broke through the silent air of the house, followed by a heart stopping crash.

It was too late. It had already begun.

**A/N: Reviews are fab!**


	2. Chapter 2

Harold Potter was a middle-aged gentleman. He was respected throughout the Ministry of Magic as one of the top Aurors; he was trustworthy and always reliable. He scratched his unruly, greying, raven hair and rubbed his blue eyes from behind his wire frames glasses. He was a tall man with broad shoulders, he looked threatening but anyone who knew him knew he was kind but, if necessary, firm. This was often the case with his son, James, and his adopted son, Sirius. The two were like a herd of elephants by the amount of mess they made in the house, not to mention the amount of things they broke.

Harold chuckled quietly to himself remembering his son's face when they were caught trying to fix their mother's vase back together after letting a bludger loose in the house. He always was the more softer parent when it came to punishments remembering what it was like to be a mischievous teenage boy more than his wife understood.

Harold had been on holiday from the Auror office for two weeks and was only due back after his sons had returned to Hogwarts. It was because of this that he was surprised when a black ministry owl bolted through his open window in his office. He had been sorting through his paperwork so he didn't have to do any during the day and could focus fully on his family. The soot owl dropped the envelope in front of him and promptly left, not waiting for a reply.

It was at this moment James popped his head around the door, and seeing his Father reading a Ministry letter, his face fell.

"What's that Dad?"

Hearing his best friends voice Sirius also appeared next to James, looking at the only man he had ever called "Dad" with a frown.

"Aren't you meant to be off work?" Harold frowned but nodded, not looking up from the letter, still thoroughly examining it.

James sighed, "Do you have to go?"

He hated his Dad going on Auror missions, especially when he was meant to be off work. That was their time and with the job his Father had they hardly ever had the opportunity to have fun as a family.

"Yes." Harold curtly replied. Hearing his Dad's sharp voice, both boys were worried. These were bad times they were living in and Harold Potter was hardly ever affected, he tried to hide his emotions when it came to his job, so when he let the emotions seep through something very bad must have happened.

"Dad what's happened?" James said worriedly, his forehead creasing into a frown, mirroring Sirius' look perfectly.

Harold sighed. "Reported attack in a muggle neighbourhood." He sighed again massaging his temples, "Supposedly young Death Eaters attacking a young Muggle-born's house, her and her sister. Sister called the Muggle Police and the message got directed to us. Apparently the witch got her older sister out and is now trying to defend herself single-handedly." Harold gave a humourless laugh. "If she's not a Gryffindor I don't know what one is anymore." At this both the younger boys paled. They both might know the girl. They both could easily have met her.

"Do you need any extra help?" Sirius offered and James nodded his agreement. Harold shook his head, "No stay here with your Mother. She's more important than me, look after her." He stood and, with a flick of his wand, tidied his desk.

"Tell your Mother I've been called away but not to worry." He smiled at sons before disapparating with a crack.

OoO

As soon as Harold appeared at his destination, the whole street was in chaos. Aurors were trying to get Muggles, who lived on the road to vacate the area, but lots wanted to know why they were being moved, one man was even trying to start a fight with a young man he knew was Kingsley Shacklebolt. He knew he wouldn't have a chance because even though Kingsley was new he was very talented as an Auror and wouldn't take any messing from anyone muggle or wizard.

Aurors were rushing to and fro, not sure what to do with themselves, Harold rolled his eyes; they were clearly new to this. He chuckled. But a scream brought him back to his senses; he looked over to see a blonde girl, maybe about nineteen, being restrained be two Aurors.

"Let go of me!" She was screaming, "Let me help my sister! Don't just stand there!" Harold walked up to the clearly distraught girl and smiled, which she didn't return only scowled.

"Hello, I'm Harold Potter. What's your name?"

"What does my name matter? Aren't you meant to be helping my sister?" She almost screamed in his face. Harold only smiled. "I will. But first I need to know some information. Now, what's your name?"

"Petunia." She almost spat; clearly seeing that answering the questions would get them to help quicker. Harold only raised an eyebrow. "Petunia Evans." Harold frowned, _Evans?_ Where had he heard that name? One of the Aurors who was restraining Petunia coughed, obviously trying to get his attention. "Okay Petunia, please can you tell me what happened?" A loud crash sounded from inside the house he had his back to and turning he saw several flashes of light through the curtains. Whoever this girl was, she was clearly talented.

"Why aren't you going inside yet?" Petunia continued.

Harold still only smiled. "Like I said we need to assess the situation that we're walking into, now please tell me what happened."

Petunia looked hesitant, but another loud crash persuaded her to talk. "I was asleep, but a really loud crash woke me and my sister burst into my room screaming at me to get up, telling me I had to leave." Petunia took in a shaky breath her eyes never leaving the house. "She opened my window and told me she had softened the ground, through me out the window telling me to call the Aurors. Of course I didn't know who the Aurors were or how to contact them, so I just called the police telling them to call the Aurors, they seemed to understand. Then your lot just started popping up out of nowhere, and now no one will tell… will tell me…what's going on." She slowly broke down into to tears by the end of her explanation. If this girl inside the house wasn't a Gryffindor there was clearly something wrong with the world. "Please do something." Petunia whispered to him.

At that moment an ear-splitting scream filled the street from the house, a pain filled scream that stabbed at Harold's brain, vibrating through his soul. "LILY!" Petunia screamed. _Lily? Lily Evans? The girl James always talks about?_ Harold took in a shaky breath.

The screaming continued at an almost deafening rate, while Petunia continued to break down, screaming her sister's name. They had to do something for this girl, it didn't matter who she was.

"Nature," Harold addressed one of the Aurors restraining the distraught girl, "We have to do something!" Nature only shook her head.

"No we need to know the situ-"

"I don't care about the situation, that girl is going to die if we don't do something to help her, and for the life of me I don't understand why no one is already in there!" When Nature only continued to shake her head, Harold took out his wand and marched towards the house. "Harold!" One of the Aurors shouted, telling him to stop, but he continued. He was going to help Lily; if it was the Lily Evans he had heard about or not, she obviously needed help.

Breaking down the front door with a flick of his wand, Harold calmed himself as much as he could over the sounds of curses being thrown, a number of which he didn't recognise but by the sound of the Lily's screams weren't very pleasant. He heard Lily's voice shouting back a number of nasty curses though, but obviously none of them dark like he expected the other side's to be, but vicious none the less. The screams of agony started up again, and by the sound of it, Lily was trying to curse them while being in so much pain, _she would make a brilliant Auror._Harold snapped out of this thought, and progressed into the room, by the door that had been blown off its hinges.

There stood a young girl with vivid red hair, and her clothes stained with her blood or maybe some of the Death Eaters' as well, duelling three fully grown men, who didn't look in any better shape than Lily, with her back turned towards him..

"Reducto!"

Lily fired the a well aimed curse at the Death Eater who was to her right, who would have gone flying into Harold had he not deflected the hit, causing the two other Death Eaters to turn towards him, but not Lily who was solely focused on her opponents.

The Death Eaters, seeing his Auror robes, quickly disapparated, leaving their ally behind. Lily spun on her heel, probably expecting another Death Eater, but her fierce face dissolved when she saw Harold standing before her.

"James?"

Her voice was shaking along with her body, and she was clutching her side where it seemed the blood was seeping from. Her face was pale, covered in blood and bruises.

Harold smiled, "No my name is Harold, I'm James' Father. You know him?" Lily nodded, a ghost of a smile flashed across her lips before it turning into a grimace of pain when she took her hand away from her side, she leant against the wall.

"Yeah," she breathed, trying to catch her breath, "We're in Gryffindor together, him and the Marauders." Lily slowly slumped to the floor, closing her eyes, her face an unhealthy grey. "I'll be back in one second, don't move." Harold told her and after receiving the reply of, "Looks like the trip to Kenya's been cancelled." Walk out of the house, and up to the Aurors waiting outside for him.

Petunia had evidently been sedated, because she was unconscious on a hovering stretcher nearby. He addressed the older Aurors, not trusting the younger ones. "There were three of them, Lily, the girl in the house, stunned one of them, and the other two bolted it after seeing me. She's okay but needs serious medical attention." He reported. "I'll take her to Mungos, she's in a bad state." Not waiting for a reply he started walking back towards the house. "Oh and by the way," He called over his shoulder, "There's an unconscious Death Eater in here, if any of you feel like doing any work!"

He walked over to Lily, and after telling her the plan to take her to St Mungos, disapparated with a very unenthusiastic "Yippee." From Lily before she promptly fell unconscious.

OoO

_Everything's okay, the girl's safe, taken her to Mungos. I'm going to be home late, sorry, you two can come here if you want to. Sorry I had to leave._

_Dad._

James read his Father's tiny scrawl with Sirius reading from over his shoulder. He pushed his untidy mop of hair from out of his eyes and sighed, looking up at his best friend's grey eyes from behind his glasses.

"Should we go?" Sirius only shrugged, flicking his long dark hair from out of his eyes.

"I don't see why not, even if we do know her your Dad says she's okay." James shrugged, standing up to stretch. "We best go tell Mum where we're going."

OoO

"Now, does this hurt?" Lily winced as the healer, who had introduced herself as Healer Claire with a brilliant smile that made Lily really want to hit her, touched her lower back, and seeing her pain the healer frowned. "What about there?" The healer's finger grazed across Lily's ribs, just above the large gash they had found on her side, making Lily yelp in pain, not unlike a wounded dog. The healer started to pull up Lily's blood stained top, after receiving Lily's permission, to see a large black bruise covering most of her side, as if ink was leaking from the large gash. "Were you hit with any spells you didn't recognise Miss Evans?" Lily lifted her head, and after seeing the healer's concerned look, nodded.

"Loads."

"Right well I'll be back in a minute, oh and leave your top up we don't want to aggravate that anymore." The healer walked promptly out the door.

The room was a blinding white, giving the impression of cleanliness, but it made Lily feel uncomfortable in the unfamiliarity of it. There were no windows and the bed she was told to stay on was all white as well. They said she needed her own room until they could identify what had happened to her, for her own and other people's safety.

Why hadn't Lily told someone about the attack? Well she knew the answer, but how could Severus expect her not to tell? She had almost been killed, and if he cared enough to tell her about the attack, then surely he wanted her to be okay and she could tell someone. Maybe she should have left the house for the attack and forced Petunia to come with her, but what would the Death Eaters have done to her muggle neighbourhood? At least with Lily being there she tried to protect them.

Lily was pulled out of her thoughts by Mr Potter knocking on the door which the healer had left open. He looked tired, the bags under his blue eyes more prominent than before.

"Hello Lily." He said kindly, smiling warmly at her.

"Hello Mr Potter." She tried to smile back, but it was just too much effort in this amount of pain.

"It's Harold Lily, Mr Potter was my Father." He smiled again, but let out a low whistle when looking at the growing bruise on her side. "That looks nasty." Lily only nodded.

Harold stood there awkwardly, looking around the room and ruffling his already messy hair, making Lily smile. She had seen James doing this so many times, and even though she may not be on the best of terms with his son, the familiarity of his actions was comforting. Seeing Lily smile Harold Grinned.

"Oh right yes, do you want a glass of water?" Lily laughed at his sudden enthusiasm, and graciously accepted; taking the glass he just conjured.

Lily was contempt with just sipping her water, but the silence became deafening pressing against her body, suffocating her. She closed her eyes tightly trying to block out the sound of the Death Eaters' voices that were now permanently implanted in her brain. Seeing her distress Harold quickly started small talk with her, asking her about anything that came to mind. He found out she had just been appointed Head Girl and was planning on training to be an Auror when she left Hogwarts, Harold told her she would make a fantastic Auror if tonight proved anything causing her to blush. She winced on several occasions, and her face was growing increasingly pale. The fact that the, at first, small bruise on her side was now covering most of her stomach wasn't lost on him either.

It wasn't long until Healer Claire returned, and after seeing a pale and shallow breathing Lily, quickly made Harold leave much to Lily's protest liking having a familiar face around her. He left the room, closing the door so he couldn't her Lily's yelps of pain as clearly, just as two teenage boys appeared out of thin air. They both smiled when they saw him, and made their way over, pushing each other in a very mature manor, but after seeing their Dad's expression quickly stopped.

"What's wrong?" James asked, clearly concerned for the girl he wasn't sure if he knew. A yelp of pain from behind the door his Father was stood behind made him quite panicky, he shared a look with Sirius who stood on his right, and saw the expression he was sure was mirrored on his face. They both looked back to Harold and seeing a cautious look on his face, made James even more uneasy, he only had that face when he needed to tell them something they weren't going to like.

"Dad?" But before Harold could say anything screams of agony pierced through the air, making a pained look cross his Father's face, James became more on edge. He was about to ask his Dad what was going on, but a Healer's voice interrupted him.

"Now Miss Evans you need to sit still or this is going to hurt more!" The voice shouted over the screams. _Miss Evans?_ Harold quickly made his way to his son, while James exchanged a panicked look with Sirius who was looking at James in concern. _Evans? Lily Evans? LILY!_

When James tried to make his way towards the door, his Dad placed a hand on his shoulder stopping him. "No James, you barging in there will do more harm than good. She needs looking at, and by the sounds of it she's in a lot of pain." A pain filled yelp emphasized his point further.

"Fine." And with that James walked back down the hall he had just come from.

OoO

Sirius walked down one of the Hospitals many hallways deep in thought. Whoever he expected the girl to be it sure wasn't Evans. She never seemed the type to get in a fight unless it was with the Marauders, but even that had become less of an occurrence. Last year they had even begun to tolerate each other after they helped her out when she was on patrols that time and got outnumbered against a bunch of Slytherins looking for something to do. James had gone ballistic, firing curses and hexes after he had made sure Lily was okay. _That was the first time she realised we weren't against her, but trying to help her._Sirius mused.

Sirius went up to the vending machine, a muggle invention that wizard decided were a good idea, and bought a chocolate bar. He picked it up and was about to start eating when a voice stopped him,

"I hope you're going to give me half." Sirius looked up at James' face where he was trying to smirk casually but failing miserably, so he split the chocolate and tossed it his best friend.

James sighed and sat down on one of the plastic chairs lining the wall next to the vending machine.

"I just don't understand why he said we could come if he knew who she was." James sighed again. Sirius sat on the chair beside his friend.

"I dunno mate, but I'm sure he had a good reason."

Before James could reply, Harold came bolting it down the hall towards them, grinning at his son. "You can go and see her now."

Lily sat in her hospital bed, they'd made her put on one of those annoying hospital gowns that reveal more than they conceal, and she was rather uncomfortable. Harold had said she had visitors, and with her sister still unconscious she wasn't sure who it was, unless her parents had found out what happened, then she was truly screwed.

Aurors had come in to question her not long after Harold had left, asking her everything she knew. They told her their names were Gideon and Fabian Prewett, they were obviously twins and both had a mischievous air about them, which Lily had only seen around a small group of teenage boys. They both had flaming red hair that was a few shades lighter than Lily's and both stood head and shoulders above her.

"I don't know much, sir." (At which one of the brothers, she wasn't sure which, blanched) She had said. "I had a feeling something was wrong, like I knew something was going to happen," She carefully chose her words not wanted to get Severus or herself for that matter, into trouble. "I heard them aparate into my house, so I went and woke my sister, softening the ground before throwing her out her bedroom window." She took a deep breath, looking up at the two gentlemen who were listening to Lily with rapt attention, one of which was writing down everything she said ("Don't believe in using Quick-Quotes."). "I knew they would kill her if they found her," She told them in a strangled whisper, "I had to do something, and that just happened to be the first thing that came to mind." She shrugged at them, looking at the floor, her cheeks growing red. She could have seriously hurt her sister if anything had gone wrong, but, Lily thought, it was better than having to defend her sister as well as herself against three fully grown Death Eaters out for her blood.

"But Miss Evans," The brother, who was taking notes, spoke, "how did you ever fight off those Death Eaters?" He asked in almost awe. Lily just shrugged. She herself didn't truly know how she had fought them off, she just cast any spell that came to mind, and backed up with the rage she had at them for trying to kill her and the primal instinct to stay alive.

"I don't know." She answered truthfully.

Gideon only smiled, "Well when you get out of school I'm sure they'll be a spot on the Auror training sessions for you."

"Really? I've always wanted to be an Auror, ever since I heard about Voldermort and his followers and what they're doing." Lily was glad neither of the boys flinched when she said his name, if anything their respect for Lily seemed to grow after she had said it.

"Well, Miss Evans, we'd be happy to have you on our team." At that the other brother, Fabian she thought it might have been, nodded. "We'll leave you to get rested up, from what the nurse was telling me you got hit by some pretty nasty hexes." He grinned at her, a lopsided grin that reminded her of two boys she had recently grown to tolerate. "Good bye carrot top." Fabian called over his shoulder.

"Like you two can talk, you pair of matchsticks!" She shouted at their retreating back, and hearing them chuckle, smiled.

James was walking down the hall way that lead to Lily's room, when he saw the two Aurors leave, chuckling together. The Prewett brothers were quite well known in the wizarding world, they were known troublemakers when they were at Hogwarts, and equally famous Aurors. They knew how to have fun, but were deadly serious when they needed to be.

"Like you two can talk, you pair of matchsticks!" A voice full of humour sounded from the room the twins had just left, making them laugh even more than they were.

"You alright there lads?" James' father asked the two howling boys. Gideon straightened up, and after wiping away tears from his eyes, replied "She's a right laugh that girl. I can't wait to work with her if she decides she wants to be an Auror." He chuckled along with his brother, who had also straightened up at the sound of Harold's voice.

James felt a twinge in his stomach watching the two Aurors that could probably kill him in two seconds flat, but he felt the barely restrain able urge to attack them both at them having fun with Lily. Sirius, noticing James' expression, smirked.

"She's quite pretty isn't she, Gideon?" James had to bite back a growl at his friend's taunting, but Sirius only smirked at him.

Gideon grinned, "I guess she is," he answered looking over his shoulder, and through the open door where Lily sat on the hospital bed trying to conceal as much as she could with the revealing hospital gown. "But she's not really my type," He grinned, noticing James' expression and what Sirius was trying to do. "More Fabians'." Fabian grinned also catching on; well James wasn't exactly being discrete.

"Yeah she's really pretty and funny, not to mention smart." Smirking at James' face as it grew red.

"Now, now boys. I think that's enough." Harold grinned at the Prewett brothers and Sirius, "I don't think ickle Jamie can take anymore teasing about pretty Miss Evans." Harold teased his own son, who glared in response.

James shoved passed them all, causing them to burst into laughter, and knocked on Lily's hospital door. She sat up on the hospital bed, where she had been closing her eyes, to see who it was. When she saw James stood there, nothing but shock was on her face, of course she should have realised Harold would bring James, and more than likely Sirius, to come and see her. She didn't mind that he was here, which was odd, in fact she was quite glad that he had come to see her, which was even more odd.

She pulled on her gown again trying, in vain, to conceal more of her legs, as the gown only reached mid-thigh. She blushed dramatically when she saw James watching her and looked away when he walked towards her. "How's it going Lils?"

"How's it going? Really? Are you serious?" She asked incredulously.

"No love, that's me!" A voice rang from the doorway. Sirius walked into the room and over to Lily, pulling her into a hug that threatened to break her newly mended ribs. "Sirius, can't- can't breathe."

"Oops, sorry about that." He chuckled, releasing her from the tight embrace. She grinned at him, before turning to James, her arms still open. James gave a blank look at which Lily rolled her eyes.

"Fine if you don't want a hug Potter, I'll just hug Sir-" But before she could finish her sentence she was enveloped in a hug tighter than Sirius'.

She giggled and hugged him back. "Hello James." Lily wasn't normally the affectionate type except with people that she liked, and considering the Marauders weren't often on this list, this was a very rare occasion. Sirius was quite surprised when she didn't hex him when he hugged her, but welcomed it with open arms, quite literally.

"It's good to see some familiar faces. I mean it was shock seeing your dad James, but seeing you two is better. I feel more normal than before. Everything was so surreal." Lily explained after James had let her go.

"Lily, I hope you don't mind me asking-" Lily cut Sirius off before he could finish.

"You want to know what happened?" After receiving two affirming nods, Lily set out on the task explaining the story to them, the full story after receiving "The Marauder's Honour" that they wouldn't tell anyone the truth. It felt good telling someone the truth, the whole truth, about Severus coming to see her in the park and his warning about not telling anyone about the attack because he would get him in trouble. By the end of the tale Lily felt as if a giant weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

That was until she heard a voice.

"That's not what you told us now is it, Carrot top?"

Lily turned towards the voice already knowing whom it belonged to. Gideon stood in the doorway, coffee in hand, with a serious expression on his handsome face. Lily looked back at the two boys sat next to her bed, to see a shocked expression she was sure was mirrored on her face.

James ruffled his hair, standing and looking from Gideon to Lily.

"How much did you hear Gideon?" He looked Gideon in the eye as he said it, but anyone who knew him knew he was nervous. The way he was ruffling his hair wasn't arrogant, and his posture implied he was nervous and vulnerable. Lily was shocked how much she could tell just by looking at him, and by how much she knew.

"I heard enough." Gideon replied, turning towards me, "Why didn't you tell us about this Snape boy, Lily?" Lily looked down into her lap where her bruised hands were ringing around each other, making them glow an unhealthy red. She could see now clearly the all the dark, tender bruises that marked her arms, and even smaller, finger print shaped, marks on her wrist from when a pretty rough Death Eater had grabbed her.

She didn't want to think about the attack and having James and Sirius here was somewhat of a relief because they took it upon themselves to distract her, and for that she was grateful. She knew why she didn't tell Gideon about Severus, but now thinking about it, she had been _so_ stupid. She had risked not only her life but also that of her sister, something truly terrible could have happened to Petunia; she could have been seriously hurt, or worse.

So Lily answered truthfully for the first time that evening. "I'm not quite sure anymore."

She started to cry, like she had wanted to do all night but never had the chance, silent tears streaming down her face like a waterfall. No one had given her a moment to reflect on what had happened for more than a moment, and when she had spoken to the Aurors so much of her story was lies it didn't feel as real. But now she could feel the man's breath on her neck as he pulled her up by her hair, his grotesque odour filling her nostrils making her taste buds flare in aggression. The pain. The white-hot pain that ran through her veins, ripping the scream from her throat.

She broke out into sobs, making her body shake. She squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed her head, willing the painful images to disappear. Her hands were slowly brought away from her head, and she was brought into a delicate hug, as if she was made of glass and might break at any second. She opened her eyes and looked up into the face of James Potter, smiling at her softly. He was stroking her hair and making soothing sounds with his deep voice. Lily fisted the front of his shirt, and pulled him down to sit beside her on the hospital bed, crying into his shoulder. Lily hated crying, especially in front of people, but she knew neither James nor Sirius would judge her, and it was Gideon's job not to.

James pulled Lily into his lap, wrapping his arms around her making Lily feel safe. Her tears slowed until there were only a few tears left and then there were none. But Lily stayed seated in James' lap, too embarrassed to move, but secretly Lily enjoyed the way his arms wrapped around her, not that she would ever tell him. Lily liked James, and after tonight she supposed that they were friends, but she had never returned the romantic feelings he evidently had for her, but yet she stayed exactly where she was, comforted by the rise and fall of his chest.

Fabian had come to see where his brother had got to, and after seeing Lily in the state she was in, forced his brother to leave, which he reluctantly did. But before he left he said he would come and see Lily in a few days to talk about what he had overheard, which at the time only made Lily cry harder.

James shifted his position slightly so that he was sitting with his back against the pillows, Lily still sitting in his lap. He felt he breathing even out and deepen and he smiled as her eyelids fluttered close, hoping she woud have a nice sleep no matter how short it was.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself. That's terrible Prongs taking advantage of an injured, mentally disorientated girl like that. Have you no shame?" James chuckled, not looking up from Lily's sleeping face; she looked so peaceful when she was asleep, so care free, as if none of this disastrous night had happened. Her pale skin, paler than usual, and her rosy cheeks had tear track makes down them. It killed James seeing Lily like this, _his_ Lily in so much pain it caused her to cry like she had.

"James?" He looked over at Sirius to see him smiling softly, "You know I had my doubts about Lily, you know I was never quite sure it wasn't just the chase for you, but I can see it now. It's only a matter of time before she does too." James grinned at his best mate, but before he could reply there was a knock at the door.

Assuming it to be his Dad, James shouted, "Come in!" but not loud enough to wake Lily, and was shocked when a girl, in her late teen, with blonde hair walked into the room. She looked disorientated and uncomfortable, but was obviously trying her best not to show it.

"Oh!" She looked at Sirius evidently shocked to find him here, "I'm sorry I must have the wrong room, the nurse, healer thing said she was here. I'm sorry." She was straining herself to be nice that much was obvious, but there was something else in her eyes, the way she was watching Sirius cautiously, as if she was scared of him.

But Sirius only grinned at her, taking her by surprise. "Are you looking for our dearest Lily-flower?" James tried to ignore the fire in his stomach as Sirius called Lily that. At receiving the blonde girl's nod, Sirius grinned again, "No you have the right room. You must be her sister Petunia, I'm Sirius and that's James." He nodded his head in the direction of the bed James was sitting on, with Lily still fast asleep in his lap.

Petunia let out a squeak at seeing James holding Lily, making her frown, but she restrained from commenting. She cleared her throat awkwardly, "Are you her boyfriend, or whatever you lot call it?" Eying James in disapproval that would rival any parent. At the shake of James' head the disapproval seemed to multiply by several thousand.

"We're friends." _I think,_James added in his head, trying to reassure Lily's sister who had evidently had as rough a night as Lily.

"How is she?" At this Lily began to stir in James' arms, squirming in his lap, but the friction was not uncomfortable by any means in James' mind. She yawned and straightened up in James' lap. She blinked up at him, and after realising she was still sat on him, blushed crimson, sliding off him to sit on the bed.

Once she had positioned her dressing gown so that it was covering as much of her legs as possible, did Lily look up to notice her sister looking murderously from James to Lily with Sirius stuffing his fist in his mouth to stop himself from laughing aloud.

She blushed, if more possible, darker and looked down at her lap. "Oh, hello Petunia. How are you?" She heard Petunia sniff and looked up to see her flapping her hands in front of her face like little wings as if they would stop her tears.

"Lily!" She shouted before launching herself at her sister.

Lily was shocked to tell the least, Petunia hadn't hugged her since before she went to Hogwarts, but Lily hesitantly returned it, patting her sister awkwardly on the back more comforting Petunia when she was supposed to be comforting Lily. She looked over at James and Sirius; they both looked as startled as Lily felt at Petunia's over dramatic show.

"I was so worried! I thought you were going to die!" She howled into Lily's shoulder, while Lily patted her back comfortingly stunned by this sudden affectionate show. "I was so scared Lily. And, oh God! Where are we going to live? The house! Mum and Dad are stuck in Ireland, their plane was cancelled they can't get back until next week! I haven't even told them what happened, but some of your lot said that they would contact them! They can't come and get us or anything"

Petunia straightened up wiping her eyes and flattening her hair, pulling on her dress to straighten it and setting her face to become as emotionless as possible with the tear streaks still there. "Well, obviously Vernon would take me in, but," Petunia looked Lily up and down, "I don't know about you."

And just like that the affectionate Petunia was gone, replaced with the stiff, disapproving version of her sister. The two boys looked shocked at Petunia's sudden personality change, but Lily was used to it. So arranging her face so she didn't look in any way offended but annoyed, which she'd had years of practice at.

"Don't worry I wouldn't want to go and stay with the Whale anyway." Her voice was dead, but it got the reaction she wanted.

"He wouldn't house a freak anyway." Lily grabbed hold of James' hand when she knew he was going to say something.

"Great, I doubt there would be any room with him and a family of whales anyway."

"How dare you!" Petunia shrieked, but Lily just sat there, her face emotionless. "Fine freak," She spat as if the word was a nasty taste in her mouth, "Find your own way home to the house _you_wrecked. Have fun." And with that, stalked out past Sirius and towards a Healer who pointed her down the corridor evidently telling her the exit.

Sirius let out a low whistle, "I'm sorry for every time I called you a bitch Evans. With that as a sister your temper seems mild." He chuckled until he saw Lily's silent tears, and enveloped her into a brotherly hug, before James got the chance.

Lily giggled at James' crestfallen, at which he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest as if he was a sulking toddler. "Give me my Lily, Sirius."

"No I don't think I will." Sirius said hugging Lily closer to his chest. "She's _mine_now!" Picking Lily up and spinning her, making Lily laugh harder than she had in a long time, Sirius grinned down at her and winked in a teasing manner. When Sirius placed her back on her feet on the floor James was behind her and wrapped his arms around Lily's waist pulling her away from Sirius who was taken by surprise. Lily screamed in surprise when he threw her over his shoulder in a fireman's lift, making both boys laugh. They both started singing 'Build me up Buttercup Baby' as James spun them around.

"Excuse me, but it looks like you're having far too much fun with this young lady." James stopped spinning in front of his Dad red faced and with a giggling Lily still slung over his shoulder. "Please put her down before one of you pukes." Laughing James did as he was told.

Harold handed her a pair of James' jogging bottoms and a zip up jumper of his, much to his son's embarrassment and Sirius' amusement, to get changed into as the healer's said she was welcome to leave the hospital. She changed in the bathroom and then sat back on the hospital bed watching James and Sirius bicker.

Lily hadn't had so much fun in a long time, and after the day she had had that was some going. But her happy spirits fell when she remembered her living predicament. Seeing her fallen face James asked what was wrong, "I've got nowhere to live remember the Aurors won't let me back in my house and Petunia quite clearly stated I wasn't going to get a bed out of her. My parents are stuck in Ireland until Merlin knows when and I really just want a hug and go to sleep" She sighed, trying her hardest not to let the tears flow again but grinned when both James and Sirius wrapped their arms around her waist from either side of her. She giggled when they both mock glared at the other.

"Nonsense, you can come home with us!" It was Harold who had answered, smiling warmly at her. "Right boys?" At which they both nodded.

"Mum always said we needed more girls around the house, she'd be over the moon."

"And we needed a new toy to keep us entertained; we were starting to get bored. I think you'd do just nicely Evans." He winked playfully, causing her to laugh.

"Are you sure? I don't want to intrude." James actually laughed at the idea.

"You're always welcome with us." And before she could argue, he grabbed her hand and disapparated with a _pop._

Lily landed with a thud on the ground, losing her balance and colliding with James' solid chest. Lily never had got the hang of apparating, but James couldn't floo even though he was pureblood, which made her feel slightly better.

Sirius soon arrived with a _pop_and seeing Lily, encased in James' arms held against his chest, winked suggestively at her making her blush and pull away from James' safe arms. She tried to ignore the hurt look that flashed across James' features and looked up the path to James' house, or should she say mansion.

The sun was just rising over the huge manor, that must have at least three floors, and that's not even knowing if it had a basement. It was beautiful to say the least, with wooden double front doors and an immaculate garden filled with summer flowers perfectly kept. The house gave of a welcoming air that strangely reminded her of the two boys stood either side of her, the thought brought a soft smile to her face.

She heard the _pop_ signalling Mr Potter's arrival, and turned to James.

"At least now I know why you're so far up your backside you can see the sunrise." She teased, causing both boys to laugh, but also getting a weak chuckle from Mr Potter (who was still insistent on Lily calling him Harold).

"At least there's one girl who can tell you how it is James, I was starting to worry that all girls would blatantly lie to your face." Harold chuckled, winking at Lily before walking towards the house, where a lady in a dressing gown had just opened the door.

Even from a distance Lily could tell she was beautiful. Her long auburn hair was dancing softly in the light breeze of the morning air, which made Lily shiver. She was wearing a pink fluffy dressing gown and bunny slippers, Lily noticed as James pushed her towards the house. And as Lily got closer she could see the same Hazel eyes that she had been looking into for years, given that most of the time she was trying to kill them with her own eyes but she could never mistake them.

Mrs Potter grinned when Harold pointed Lily out, when Lily was few metres away from her, and Lily was shocked when the young woman pulled her into a hug.

"You must be Lily." She said when she pulled away from the hug, and the smile she gave to Lily made Lily smile also.

"Yes Mrs Potter."

"Oh no, that's my Mother-in-law, don't get me confused with her I may attack you." She said with a serious face but her lips were twitching upwards, making Lily giggle. "No I'm Emily." She smiled.

"I'm Lily." Lily wasn't sure why she said it because evidently Emily already knew, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

"I've heard lots about you Lily." She smiled with a side-glance at James. Lily groaned and with a look in James' direction, who was pointedly looking away from her, the back of his neck bright red, turned back to Emily.

"He deserved everything I did to him." Lily said flatly, making Sirius bark a laugh and James to glare.

"What?" Emily asked, looking at the two boys, James trying to cover Sirius' mouth in vain. Lily was confused, if James hadn't told his parents about the numerous times she had hexed him after one of his pranks, what had he told them?

"You mean he hasn't told you all the stuff I did to him?" Lily knew she should just leave it, but the way James' face was slowly turning more and more red made her curious.

"What do you mean?" Emily asked, but before Lily could answer James interrupted.

"Maybe we should go inside, you look cold Lily, and the last thing you need is a cold after what happened tonight." And with that he pulled Lily inside the house and with that he pulled Lily into what she suspected was the grand hallway. "Wow." Was all Lily said, making James smirk, but she ignored it.

The entrance was almost as big as the one at Hogwarts, but with grand staircase directly in front of them, probably leading to corridors that lead all over the mansion. There were doors either side of the staircase, and one immediately to their right, with a window seat just behind her directly next to the door.

"It's beautiful." Lily breathed but then shivered, "but also cold." James grinned, and with the three behind them walked through the door that was to the right of the staircase.

They walked into the Potter's kitchen, where both James and Sirius hopped onto the counter making both Lily and Emily _tut_at them, the boys only grinned innocently at them at which Lily rolled her eyes.

"Now what would you all like to eat?" The boys immediately started asking for lots of delicious foods that, normally, would have made her almost drawling on the countertop, but were, at this moment it time, making her want to be sick. James, noticing Lily's silence, smiled at her.

"My mum makes the best waffles; I know they're your favourite." Lily knew he was only trying to help, but she wanted to punch him for making a new wave of nausea to take over her body. Trying hard not to puke right there and then, she shook her head.

"I was wondering if I could just go to bed." She said in a quiet voice, and Emily looked at her with sympathy in her eyes.

"Of course deer, would you like to borrow some pyjamas, you look about the same size as me." And with a confirming nod, she left the kitchen to go and make Lily a bed in one of the guest rooms.

Lily sighed and rested her head I her hands, breathing slowly, trying to stop feeling like she was going to empty all of her internal organs in a matter of seconds. The boys were trying to make everything entertaining, but Lily wasn't really listening, but she couldn't ignore the concerned looks both James and Harold were giving her.

It felt like hours until Emily returned, but in reality must have only been about ten minutes. She stood and left, but not before both James and Sirius had given her hugs, she laughed internally thinking about how many of the girls at Hogwarts would love to be in her position right now.

Lily walked with Emily up the grand staircase, and to the left. Emily pointed to the first room on the right,

"That's Sirius' room," She pointed to the one next to it.

"That's James' room," And then she pointed to the one opposite James's room.

"And that one's yours." She smiled softly and pulled open the door to Lily's room. The walls were painted a light cream, with a huge four-poster bed and a dressing table. The huge windows were covered in blackout curtains, with a chair next to it, but Lily didn't feel like admiring any of the wonderful things in the room, she just picked up the pyjamas that Emily had left on the bed, and turned and smiled at Emily.

"If you need anything, we'll be around the house, well I will, the boys and Harold will be in bed. Have a nice sleep." And she pulled Lily into an unexpected hug before leaving.

Lily changed in the room down the hall that Emily had told her was the bathroom, and climbed into the heavenly soft bed. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

But that was when the nightmares came.

_She was in her house, just like she had been only hours before, she heard the bang from downstairs and ran to Petunia's room. But she wasn't there. Panicking Lily screamed her name over and over._

"_LILY!"_

_The voice of her sister was downstairs, and without a second thought, Lily bolted down the stairs, but downstairs it wasn't her house. She didn't even recognise the house, but she somehow knew her way around the house._

"_LILY!" But this voice didn't belong to her sister, this voice was deeper more masculine, she knew that voice._

"_LILY!" James came bolting out of the door. He looked older than she knew him, but still as handsome._

"_Lily take Harry and run, it's him!" Lily didn't know who the 'him' was, but it filled her with panic, and James passed her a small bundle of blankets of a baby, who looked shockingly like James already. She watched as older James went back into the room he had just come from and ran back up the stairs, which now looked nothing like her house._

_She ran into the door at the end of the hall, into what she could only presume was a nursery. And even though she knew it was in vain tried to barricade herself in. She looked at the baby in her arms and smiled, she didn't know how, but she knew this was hers and James' son, and she had to protect him, with everything she had. He had to stay alive._

_She heard a cold cruel laugh, "Avada Kedavra!" Then silence. She knew what had happened, but she couldn't help the sob that escaped her throat. "James." She sobbed, her whole world collapsing._James.

_She heard the footsteps on the stairs and panic over took her._

_Harry. She had to protect Harry. She placed him in his crib just as the door was blown of its hinges._

"_Move aside silly girl."_

"_No, please, not Harry. Take me instead."_

"_Move aside girl."_

"_No please have mercy, take me instead."_

"_As you wish." And with a cold cruel laugh, the green light over took her._

She screamed. That's all she knew how to. She was over taken by terror_,_and gut-wrenching sobs escaped her. Her James. Her Harry. Gone. That was when the door flew open. She screamed again, the movement reminding her of her dream, but the figure in the door way was much more welcomed than the one in her dream.

"James." She sobbed, and he ran over to her pulled her into his lap, much like he did at the hospital, just letting her cry into his chest again.

"I thought you were dead." She sobbed, this confused him, but he just continued to say soothing words and stroke her tangled hair. Sirius and his parents were stood in the doorway, Sirius looked shocked at her outburst, but his parents were looking at her with knowing looks.

James held Lily, rocking her slightly, until she fell asleep again, but not before making him promise he wouldn't leave. So James tucked her back up in bed and kissed her on the forehead. He sat in the chair next to the window, and it wasn't long until he too fell asleep.

**A/N: I hope you liked that one, it was definitely longer than the first! Like it? Hate it? **

**Reviews are Sarah opening up Microsoft word and typing! **

_**~Sarah **_


	3. Chapter 3

Lily awoke with a start and glanced around the unfamiliar room, reaching for her wand that was placed on the bed stand besides her scanning the room, until her eyes fell on the unconscious body of James Potter slumped in a chair on the other side of the room. The past day rushing back o the front of her mind and she buried her head in her hand in embarrassment. How soft had she been? She let herself cry and be comforted by a boy she could barely call her friend, and had allowed herself to stay in his house.

She slowly got out of bed and over towards James, poking him in his side. He grunted but didn't wake, so she prodded him again this time effectively waking him.

"Potter?" Lily prodded him again to make sure he wasn't going back to sleep.

"Yeah?" He pushed his glasses back up his nose and smiled at her, she gave a half one back in return not feeling very comfortable him being around her. She'd let him comfort her but now she felt incredibly awkward and unsure of what he would think. Would he think she liked him? Because she definitely didn't, she had only just been able to stand him and yes she appreciated him being kind yesterday but she didn't want to be around him now. And she was in his house so this was making things even more awkward in her eyes.

"Potter can I use your owl? I want to send a letter to my parents and to Marlene." He stood up slowly and opened his arms as if to hug her, making her move quickly over to the bedside table to take a drink of the glass of water that was left there.

Slightly confused by her sudden frostiness and use of his last name James nodded, "Yeah sure, I'll just go and get it for you."

Letting out a long breath that she hadn't realise she'd be holding, Lily listened to him close the door behind her. She slumped into the desk chair that James had just been sat in and found a quill and ink.

_Dear Mum and Dad, _

_Petunia said that the Aurors would be contacting you about what happened, so I thought it would be best for me to send you a letter to say that I'm okay and well, the hospital checked me over so everything is fine. The Aurors made sure to put the house back to the same way it was before so don't worry about the house. I know you can't get back to me just yet so I'm going to stay with a friend until you're back._

_Write back if you would like to._

_Love Lily._

James knocked onto the door and entered after her permission was given, holding two owls on his arm, he placed them on the desk in front of her and then left saying he would be downstairs, Lily nodded.

_Marls, _

_I'm sorry I haven't written but I need to ask a favour. Can I come and stay with you until further notice? It's a long story that I would gladly explain when I see you. I'm sorry for the short notice._

_Lily x _

She sighed as she watched the birds fly off into the distance, and after transfiguring her clothes into a pair of jeans and a top she made her way through the maze that was the Potter home. She could hear Sirius obnoxious laughter in the distance so she followed the sound, hoping it would lead her to the rest of the family.

Upon reaching the door that she could see the back of Mrs Potter's head she softly knocked gaining the room's attention.

"Hello dear, would you like some breakfast or well dinner?" She chuckled softly and Lily felt incredibly awkward for no apparent reason and took the seat next to her across from James who kept glances at her but not saying anything, making Lily if possible even more uncomfortable. She shouldn't have come here, she was really trying to think of the reason she had agreed to this, well because she didn't have anywhere else and he had offered. But why didn't she just owl Marlene?

"How are you feeling Lily?" Mr Potter asked kindly smiling at her.

"Okay." She nodded, but that was about all she said over the course of the meal. Sirius tried making her laugh making jokes constantly but none of them even got a smile out of the redhead, as she slowly retreated into her own head thinking that this was even more of a bad idea.

The whole table was startled at the appearance of a tawny owl that made straight for Lily and knocked heads with her, making her laugh for the first time today but only made the rest of the table look confused.

"Oh, you little minx." She laughed at the startled looks coming from the Potters but Sirius seemed to understand but looked more curious as she opened the letter.

_Lil!_

_Damn right you better explain to me you little madame! No letters and then I read in the Profit what happened and don't hear anything from you, do you know how worried I was? Anyway little rant over, of course you can come and stay with me! Just apparate into my bedroom, my parents are away as you know so it's just me and Jordon and he had not objections to you coming, I think he has a little crush on you little Miss Head Girl! _

_Anyway just turn up I'll be waiting!_

_Marls x_

Lily grinned at her friend's antics but felt relief rush through her but immediately felt guilty. The Potters had been nothing but nice and welcoming to her when they offered her, their home to rest in and she was taking the quickest ticket out of there, but she knew she shouldn't have accepted their offer. She barely knew them and her and the Marauders had the rockiest relationship in the history of Hogwarts from what Dumbledore told them over the years.

"Mrs Potter, erm, Emily?" The woman in question smiled at her giving Lily her full attention and that of all the boys. "My friend Marlene said I could stay with her until my parents come back from Ireland, she said I could just apparate over, but thank you, and you Mr Potter, for letting me stay with you last night." She felt even more uncomfortable at having everyone's eyes on her.

"Are you sure you have to go, you're welcome to stay for as long as you like." She offered and Harold nodded his agreement.

"No I think I've intruded enough." She smiled and thanked them again before excusing herself to go upstairs to collect the clothes the hospital gave back to her that she cleaned with her wand. She made the bed and folded the pyjamas that Emily had given her to wear.

Just as she was about to apparate the door to her room opened abruptly, revealing James looking at her with a frown on his face.

"Did I do something to upset you?" He asked carefully but not leaving her eyes.

"No, what do you mean? I'm just going to stay with Marls."

"No you know what I mean. You were all friendly yesterday letting me hug you and calling my James but waking up this morning the first thing I hear is Potter and by the looks of things you just can't wait to get away from me." His frown deepened.

"No Potter, James whatever, I was stupid yesterday and scared, but face it James we're not even really friends." She said softly looking into his hazel orbs that swam with confusion.

"We are friends; you don't hate me anymore do you?" She shook her head honestly "And we're getting along aren't we? So what about that isn't a friend?"

Lily couldn't understand why he was getting so worked up about this; he was taking it as if she was personally insulting him which she wasn't trying to do by any means.

"No James, what you and Sirius and me and Marls is friends we're barely acquaintances. You saved me last year and I appreciate that and last night you offered me a place to stay and I will always be grateful, but we aren't friends." She moved towards him but he just moved out of her way.

"Then why did you come last night?" He shouted at her making her jump in surprise and frown "You didn't have to come! You could have gone to McKinnon's last night, why didn't you?"

Lily was frowning and glaring at him, she had tried to be nice by leaving not making everything awkward and uncomfortable. She admitted she shouldn't have come here, that she and James weren't even friends, but there was no reason for the way he was acting.

"Because you offered!" Lily was shouting now and glaring more furiously "I was scared and someone I knew offered me a place to stay!" If anything this seemed to make James more angry, slowly growing red in the face.

"And what about last night, you waking up screaming? You said you thought I was dead, what was that about?" Lily truly didn't know what that was about, she couldn't even remember waking up in the night, well morning. At least that explained why James was in the room when she woke up.

"I don't know Potter, but I truly regret it!" She screamed. They were being petty now she realised but she didn't care, he was making her so mad when all she had tried to do was be polite and not intrude on him more than she already had.

"You know why I offered you a place to stay Evans? I pitied you! I watched the way you and your sister treated each other and I pitied you! But it looks like I shouldn't have bothered."

Lily felt as if she'd been slapped. He pitied her. He wasn't doing this because he was kind or because he cared for her in any way, it was because he pitied her. Had he pitied her all along? Was that why he helped her last year, not because it was the right thing to do but because he pitied her? A new kind of rage boiled inside her and took her breath away; she wasn't sure who she was angrier with, herself for not realising sooner or Potter.

"I don't need your pity!" She spat causing him to flinch slightly at the venom in her voice; she noticed out of the corner of her eye Sirius in the doorway but paid it no mind. "I don't need anything from you! I thought you being nice, but obviously that doesn't come in the James Potter package, all you get is either annoying or pity! And I don't want either."

She was being childish but so was he, and he made her so mad doing the smallest of things but the things that he was saying made her feel sad and deflated but she would never show him that this was the way that he affected her. He knew he made her angry, that wasn't s a new side of her to him, so she decided she would rather be angry than sad, it was an easier emotion to deal with.

"I'm going to go back to Hogwarts and be the best Head Girl that school has ever seen with whoever has the honour of being Head Boy, and I'm going to love every point I take from you and every detention I hand out. Other than that I hope we don't even breathe the same air." And with one last angry glare in his direction, Lily disapparated imagining Marlene's bedroom.

Sirius let out a low whistle from where he was standing and James jumped not realising he was there, causing Sirius to chuckle slightly.

"How long were you there?" James asked still looking at the spot that the redhead had vanished from.

"Long enough. Come on Prongs let's go play some Quidditch."

OoO

Lily landed on her back with a muffled thump onto the familiar carpet of Marls' bedroom. She heard a shriek of surprise but then a shout of delight.

"Lily!" The girl in question groaned in pain as a bubbly brunette jumped onto her stomach and continued jumping up and down.

"Get off!" Lily pushed a laughing Marlene McKinnon off of her and pulled herself to sit on her bed. Marlene's room was covered floor to ceiling in posters of her favourite band and Quidditch team and a number of photos of all the girls together.

Marlene was about the same height as Lily, so was quite short, and had the body that girls everywhere envied. She had curved everywhere, was slender but still looked healthy and had dark brown hair that reached her shoulder blades. She had a fabulous sense of humour and was also beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team alongside Sirius.

"Hello Marls." Lily laughed and joined in on the jumping hug as her best friend launched herself at her. Lily felt the anger she had felt only a few minutes ago slowly leave her body, Marlene always had a way of making her feel better she was the one she always went to when she needed to rant about anything, mainly James, and she always gave brilliant advice.

"Now," Marlene said pulling Lily down onto the bed to sit beside her "tell me what happened, I want to know everything."

So Lily started to tell her, in more depth than she had James or the Aurors, about how scared she was when Severus had told her but knowing that she had to stay and fight and how stupid she felt for not telling anyone. She told Marlene about the relief she had felt when James and Sirius had turned up even if she didn't understand why, and how she felt very guilty about insulting her sister's boyfriend when she was clearly worried about her, she should have just swallowed her pride for once. Lily explained about how awkward she'd felt that morning about how open he had been, how embarrassed she had been at letting James and Sirius see her cry like a little girl. And finally about the fight she had just had with James. Marlene had listened silently taking in everything that her best friend had said with horror, but the last part of her speech confused her.

"He said he pitied you?" Lily nodded her head vigorously but Marlene couldn't get her head around it, she couldn't understand why James would act like that, but she also couldn't understand why Lily blew up the way she did. She had always known Lily had a temper as fiery as her hair but it usually took more to get Lily this riled up.

"Well let's not think about silly boys now! What should we do? My parents are away as I have already said so we have free reign!"

The girl's giggles and excited discussion as to what to do was cut short as an owl she recognised as the Potter's that she had used this morning flew through the window. Lily gave the owl a treat and it flew back out the window, back to Potter Manor Lily presumed.

_Dear Lily,_

_How are you? Yes we did receive contact off of a few wizards saying that out house had been attacked and that you were being taken to hospital, Petunia was fine but it was you who they were worried about. Oh darling I'm so sorry we weren't there to protect you, but we're so proud of you for being so brave. We would have been back to you in a flash if we could but the airport has been closed, a freak freeze their saying as it's nothing but sunny weather over here. All that was reported was that there seemed to be a strange mist that froze everything it touched. We don't know when we'll be home but hopefully it should be before you go back to school. _

_We love you._

_Mum and Dad x_

Lily stared at the letter in confusion and she looked over at Marlene who was reading over her shoulder like she always does.

"Dementors?" Lily asked.

"It looks like it, but there's nothing we can do, it said in the Profit that they were going to put up and anti apparition over the airport because there was a mysterious magic being cast around the area and they didn't want anyone to be affected."

Lily tried to not let this concern her as that meant that there were Aurors or people just as powerful taking care of the problem, but she still wished her parents were in the middle of it, whatever it was. The concern must have shown on her face as Marlene smile reassuringly at her.

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. Now I want ice cream." And the two girl bounded down the stairs in a race to the kitchen laughing all the way, not thinking about anything other than the frozen treats waiting for them.

They spent the day lounging around the house and watching films that Lily had made Marlene watch who had instantly fallen love with. They had apparated back to Lily's house at one point to go and get Lily some clothes for her stay with Marlene, it was only a week until they were to return to Hogwarts and Lily was counting on her parents being back before then so didn't collect her Hogwarts trunk or supplies. She tried to show that she wasn't affected by being back there, but she wasn't sure if Marlene saw and just didn't comment, because on the inside she was screaming. She remembered being so terrified in this room only two days ago, pacing across the room while waiting for the dreadful second when they would arrive. She had hastily collected her things and made their way back to Marlene's.

They decided to take the knight bus because Lily had confessed that she had never ridden in it and Marlene said it was an experience that she had to live. Lily had been awed by the purple triple levelled bus that appeared out of thin air. Well she probably should have expected it considering she was a witch. The journey was more unpleasant than apparating Lily decided, because it was more uncomfortable, lasted longer and you had to pay. It was safe to say that Lily wasn't going to be travelling by the knight bus unless it was an emergency.

Marlene's house was just a normal house, not a manor like the Potters', and was in a muggle neighbourhood which Marls had told her was rare of a pureblood family, but Marlene loved where she lived and wouldn't trade it for any large and flashy house any day. Lily always felt comfortable in Marlene's house, it welcomed her and both her parents were always very find and polite towards her.

The girls spent the rest of the day indoors in their pyjamas catching up, after not seeing each other for a few weeks, eating a bunch of muggle sweets that they had bought from the shop on the corner of Lily's street before getting onto the Knight bus. The boy behind the counter had flirted awfully with the two girls but they pretended not to notice, and Lily giggled as Marlene asked why he had given her a bunch of numbers on a piece of paper, and had gone into the explanation of how he wanted her to call him.

"But why would I need a number? Couldn't I just floo him?" Marlene asked.

"He was a muggle Marls, he wouldn't know what the floo network was, actually I think he might be a bit freaked out if your head appeared in his fireplace."

"So how would I talk to him?"

"You really should have taken muggle studies. Right do you remember when I showed you the telephone?" Marlene nodded "Well to make sure you get the right telephone you type in a number, and the number the boy gave to you was his, so if you used a telephone you would put in the number he gave you so you could talk to him."

Marlene nodded in understanding and grabbed a handful of popcorn and mixing it with a handful of candy floss, making Lily scrunch her nose in disgust.

"That's gross Marls." She only received a sugar filled grin in reply making her groan in disgust.

"So have you heard about Alice?" Marls brought up, perking her curiosity.

"No, what's happened?" Alice Knight was one of their other dorm mates in Gryffindor and also quite a close friend to both Marlene and Lily but nothing could rival the friendship between them.

"She's dating Amos Diggory!" Lily gasped and moved so she was completely facing Marlene.

"The Hufflepuff? No way! I never thought of them as a couple." Marlene nodded her agreement.

"I know but she wrote to me and said that he had asked her out on a date on the last day of Sixth and she agreed because you now that she had just broken up with Tyler, but then she said that they had a great time and he asked her to be his girlfriend and she said they could give it a go."

The two girls didn't gossip very often but when they did it was always quite important information, and considering Alice was their friend this classified as important.

"Didn't he go out with Mary in Fourth?" Mary McDonald was there other friend and dorm mate but again she wasn't as close as Lily and Marlene, but Alice and Mary were very close.

"No, no," Marlene waved her hand in dismissal "That was Reg Cattermole, the Hufflepuff. I wondered what happened to him." Marlene went quiet for a moment. "Ah well, but I never saw them as a couple."

"Mary and Reg? Yeah that's why they broke up remember." Lily sighed.

"No Lily! Alice and Amos! I never saw them dating, you know when you see two people and go 'you fit' I don't get that feeling with them."

Lily chuckled at how sappy her friend was being "When have you ever had that feeling?"

"Never! And no relationship has lasted yet so it seems to be working!" Marlene explained as if it was obvious.

"Right. Okay, whatever. We should just leave them to see this insight that you so wistfully see. Divination has brainwashed you. But do you hear me Marlene Grace McKinnon, no meddling. We got in so much trouble last time. I thought Alice was going to pop a vein." The two girls chuckled slightly thinking of the moment Alice had found them talking her up to her crush. "Seriously Marls, leave this alone."

"You take away all my fun." Marlene pouted but giggled at the look Lily gave to her.

"I am your fun," Lily declared before flopping back onto Marlene's bed "Without me your life would be too boring to even be called a life, it would be more of an existence and we can't have your beautiful face not having fun can we?" Lily patted her cheek and laughed at the murderous look she received, and got a mouthful of feathers in return when Marlene threw her pillow in her face.

"Oh bring it bitch!" Marlene screamed and ran out the room in true Gryffindor fashion as Lily chased her brandishing a pillow of her own. The two girls spent hours hunting each other around Marlene's house which quickly turned into a game of hide and seek meets a pillow fight, before crashing on Marlene's bed completely exhausted.

As the light of day crept through the curtains illuminating the room, Lily groaned and rolled over effectively colliding into Marlene sending them both over the other side of the bed.

"Ow! Lily get off me!" Marlene groaned from under her best friend.

"Don't pretend you're not enjoying yourself." Lily chuckled and pulled Marlene up with her. "What time is it?"

"Time you got a watch!" Marlene exclaimed but at Lily's look rolled her eyes "It is," she performed an army roll under her bed and came out on the other side grabbing her watch "Five to ten!"

Lily nodded amused my Marlene's display, she was used to the girl's slightly odd way of being but it never failed to make her smile. "What do you want to do today Marls?" Lily sat back down on the floor and chuckled when Marlene's grinning face popped up on the other side of the bed.

"Ice cream for breakfast!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs but Lily couldn't help join in. It was a tradition that if something big, whether it was good or bad, or they had spent some time apart that at the first sleepover together they would get ice cream together. They changed quickly giggling with excitement, it occurred to Lily that she was a completely different person when she was around Marlene; she brought out the best in her, making her more fun to be around.

They apparated quickly to the Leaky Cauldron after Marlene had teased Lily mercilessly at being scared of the Knight bus.

"I'm not scared; it just made me feel sick."

"Yeah, of course. You were definitely scared though." And she ran before Lily could grab her and make her pay.

Diagon ally was quiet considering it was quite early in the morning, but there were a few parents with young children about Hogwarts' age and it made Lily smile thinking that she would be looking after these children, along with the new Head Boy of course, in September. And that was only a few days away.

Once in FloreanFortescue's Ice Cream Parlour, Florean gave them knowing looks and beckoned them to the counter.

"Ice cream for breakfast, girlies?" Florean had a strong Irish accent that fascinated Lily in an odd way; Marlene said it freaked her out because it reminded her of her cousin that tried to hit on her back in fifth year.

"You know us too well." Lily placed her order of mint choc chip with raspberry sauce and sprinkles and Marlene's of Chocolate with chocolate sauce and chocolate chips.

"How are you not the size of a house yet?" Lily asked as she watched Marlene shovel the ice cream in her mouth at a frightening speed.

Marlene only shrugged, "I dunno, oh, ow!" She whined grabbing her head making Lily laugh. "Brain freeze."

"That's what you get for eating quicker than Black at the opening feast." Marlene tried to stick her tongue out but the effort made her wince and caused Lily to laugh harder than she was before.

The flow of people in the alley steadily grew as time passed on, it was after midday and several pots of ice cream to share, before the girls decided to move through diagon alley. Lily needed a new book so she proceeded to drag a very uncooperative Marlene into Florish and Blots, gaining many looks of fear as Marlene started to scream that it physically pained her, but after noticing that people were regarding Lily with caution as if she might turn on them too she stopped and allowed herself to be taken into the "shop of boredom and maturity" as she referred to it as.

"There are some picture books over there Marls," Lily said in a slow voice as if talking to a child "but remember to concentrate really hard because those are still a little bit advanced for you." Lily patted her on the head and laughed at the murderous glare she received.

Lily wandered around the book shop until she couldn't take Marlene breathing down her neck waiting for them to be able to leave, she just left the pile of books on the counter and left the shop, while Marlene started doing a victory dance and sprinting out of the shop after her, ignoring the glares and disapproving looks that were thrown her way by the owner and other customers.

"Now, where to?"

The Alley had grown considerably busier meaning Marlene had to go onto her tiptoes to try and see over the tops of everyone's heads, being more than a head shorter than almost everyone that was there.

"I think we should try out that new clothes store over there and then we could get a drink somewhere?" Lily nodded her agreement and started to try to weave her way through the sea of people, who were making everything more difficult by shoving the two seventeen year olds. The new shop was at the very end of the Alley in the old sweet shop where the owner had been arrested for putting enchantments on the sweets he gave to minors.

"Lily what do you want for your birthday?" Marlene mused while flicking through a rack of jumpers of all different colours and sizes.

"Marls my birthday isn't for another month and a half!" Both rolling their eyes in sync but for different reasons.

"I know that silly," She hit Lily with one of the jumpers that she was holding making Lily get a mouthful of fluff "but these things need to be planned! It's your eighteenth and I know that this is just as important to you because now you're an adult in the muggle world too!" Lily laughed and hit Marlene with the bag she was considering buying, gaining glares from the shopkeeper.

"I don't know what I want Marls, I've not even thought about it, I'm more thinking about the immediate future."

"This is immediate future! Important immediate future! Maybe I could convince the girls to let the Marauders help me plan the party, their parties are always the best."

"Oh yeah because wrecking the common room is just the underlying factor of a great factor." Lily stated dryly but Marlene only rolled her eyes, but her retort died on the tip of her tongue.

"Wonder what Snape and Malfoy are up to."

Lily glanced over her shoulder to look over at the pair, they did look awfully shifty glancing around every few seconds to see if anyone was watching, not noticing the girls' attention on them. Lily looked away from the greasy haired and bleach blonde haired boys and back at Marlene, after watching them turn into the road leading to Knockturn Alley.

"Whatever it is, it can't be good."

Lily hadn't spoken to Severus since he warned her of the attack that was going to take place on her home. She didn't want to speak with him, she knew part of her anger was also aimed at herself but a large portion was also at him. He shouldn't have asked her not to tell anyone of the attack, it was wrong to put her in that position, she could have been hurt or seriously injured or worse her sister could have been or any number of her neighbours. But she knew she was stupid for trusting him, she should have just told the Aurors or Professor Dumbledore as soon as she had gotten home but she foolish wanted Severus to trust her like he used to and even now a small part of her wanted his approval so she hadn't told. But now she had realised her mistake, he didn't care for her, whether he ever did she wasn't sure but she liked to think he did, and he was going to be nothing more than a thorn in her side. He wasn't the Sev she used to know, he was new and more Slytherin version, dark and untrustworthy she saw that now. But she should have seen it earlier.

Seeing her expression Marlene cringed and reddened slightly "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything."

Lily managed a small smile "Don't be I don't care." She grinned and plucked the jumper from out of Marlene's hands who blanched at the red jumper pressed against her redheaded friend.

"Maybe in green." They continued their journey into the clothes store and even got the shopkeeper into a conversation as they were the only customers in the shop and they had been in there for quite a while now. She was telling them how even though she was new hardly anyone had been into the shop. She told the girls that the number of people that were currently in the alley was the most that they had had in months.

"People just don't want to come out anymore," She continued "They're scared of leaving their homes, what with all the attacks and whatnot. I'm surprised that those Death Eaters haven't attacked Diagon Alley yet, what with it being next door to Knockturn Alley." The shopkeeper mused but something else had caught Lily's attention. Several hooded figures walking smoothly from the shadowed entrance of Knockturn Alley, heads bowed, walking in a single file into the busy streets of the more popular Alley. This didn't seem odd until all of them stopped and pulled out their wands in sync.

Something inside Lily reacted making her legs move quickly towards the door, Marlene following obediently confused until spotting the hooded figures, they stood behind them not letting them know of their presence. A few people in the crowd had started to notice them as well stopping to look at them in slight confusion. Lily pulled out her wand, even though these people hadn't done anything they were making feel uneasy. Marlene copied Lily's motion, swiftly taking her wand in her hand.

"Oi! Watch it!" Someone shouted barging into one of the hooded figures who turn swiftly towards him; they didn't give him a chance to defend himself before a jet of green light hit him squarely in the chest. Everything seemed to go silent, until someone screamed within the Alley and time seemed to go at double speed as everyone started shoving and pushing trying to get as far away from the hooded figures as possible. Lily saw people apparating quickly away before one of the hooded figures, Lily could only presume were Death Eaters, cast a spell over the ally not allowing anyone to apparate away, they were throwing curses and hexes in every direction not even giving people a chance to shield themselves before they fell to the ground like puppets.

Lily grabbed Marlene's hand, they were still stood behind them as they hadn't noticed them giving them the perfect opportunity to stun a few of them quickly, but that would immediately result to their attention being drawn to the two of them. Glancing over at Marlene she nodded squeezing her hand, they lifted their wands and simultaneously shot the two Death Eaters in front of them, knocking them out instantly, but as Lily had presumed the Death Eaters on either side turned towards them.

Lily held her wand steadily in front of her ready for the attack; she pulled Marlene closer to whisper in her ear, her eyes not leaving that of her attacker. He tried to throw a few hexes at her but her shield was too advance and quick in comparison to the weak advance.

"Cover my back."

Lily rand forward firing any spell that came to mind after six years of magical education, Marlene firmly pressed against her back attacking the ones that followed with a fierce concentration. Lily fought her way through the crowd; some people were duelling with the growing number of hooded figures, where were they all coming from? The number of attackers was growing rapidly but the number of people on defence was falling by the unexpected ambush. Where were the Aurors?

Lily heard a terrified scream from her left, spotting a young girl being approached by a huge man; it sickened her when he pointed his wand in her face. The girl's eyes went wide and she screamed again but it was drowned out by the number of other voices shouting across the alley. Lily saw red and with a furious flick of her wand the Death Eater was sent flying over the alley and through a shop window. Running towards the girl Lily crouched in front of the young girl who was shaking uncontrollably.

"Hey sweetie," She soothed "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." She smiled when the young girl looked up but was shocked when her jet black hair changed to the exact shade of red as her own. "That's really cool." Lily told her truthfully, earning a small smile, "Okay, what's your name?"

"Dora, I'm four."

"Hello Dora I'm Lily, I'm seventeen. Where's your mum Dora?" Lily glanced over her shoulder, not comfortable with having her back to the attack.

"I don't know." Dora looked around herself as if expecting her Mother to just appear and Lily knew she couldn't just leave her here, but also knew she couldn't fight with a four year old by her side.

"Okay Dora come with me, we'll try and find your mum." She opened her arms for Dora and put her on her hip as she stood up, feeling more comfortable facing the battle but incredibly aware of the fact she was bringing a four year old into it. Lily was proud of the young girl for not crying or drawing attention to herself and Lily as they made their way through the crowd. Dora had her arms around Lily's neck hiding her head in her shoulder so she didn't have to look around her. Lily didn't blame her, the street was completely destroyed some of the shops were on fire while others had all of their windows smashed in. Bodies from both, whether alive or dead Lily couldn't tell, were scattered across the streets and the duels were still in progress. Lily scanned the crowds for Marlene looking over every face panicking slightly when she couldn't see her best friend anywhere, but a whimper brought her to attention. Marlene could look after herself, bur Dora couldn't so she was going to be the main priority at the moment.

"DORA!" A familiar voice bellowed behind Lily making her turn to try and find him in the crowd. Sirius was running madly through the alley head flying back and forth hollering the young girl's name. Dora seemed to recognise the voice as well as she lifted her head from out of Lily's shoulder.

"Sirius!" The relief that flooded across the young man's face slightly surprised Lily, he bounded his way towards the two of them pulling them to the side away from the main firing lines.

"Oh thank Merlin." He grabbed Dora from Lily's grip and gave her the biggest hug that Lily thought she could manage without breaking any of her bones. "I turned around and you were gone! I didn't know what happened! What did happen?"

"Lily saved me from the big man who pointed his wand at me."

Sirius looked over towards Lily and she could see the conflicting emotions pass over his face. He had obviously heard her and James argue so he was probably angry with her over upsetting his best friend, but she had also just saved Dora from almost certain pain, if not death.

"Thanks Evans." He told her seriously and she nodded. "Where's McKinnon?"

This brought Lily back to her previous task of looking for her best friend. "I don't know." She answered truthfully, Lily saw something flicker across Sirius face but before Lily could understand it was gone. He nodded and Lily did so in return before walking past them ruffling Dora's now jet black hair as she did so.

The fighting was not letting up at all, and they were now clearly outnumbered by nearly three to one and by the looks of all the fights Death Eaters tended to gang up on the weaker wizards, taking them out easily, before challenging the stronger ones. Very brave of them indeed.

Wand at the ready Lily continued to make her way through the crowds, when a loud bang drew everyone's, including the Death Eater's, attention. An ambush of Aurors charged through the streets firing as many spells as they could at the hooded figures, Lily spotted Mr Potter in the group but quickly looked away continuing her search for Marlene. Lily was trying not to panic but she couldn't see Marlene anywhere, and images of her lying on the floor cold kept flashing through her head making her feel dizzy and physically sick. She started running up and down the street through all the duels until she stopped dead.

The breath gushed out of her lungs and couldn't manage to bring anymore in, inhibiting the scream she was sure would have sounded otherwise. Her legs turned to liquid and she dropped to her knees and crawl over to him. Sirius turned his head when he heard her moving towards him, blocking her view initially, but nothing was blocking her perfect view now. She took one look and her eyes widened. That's when she screamed.

**A/N: Hello and thank you for the reviews! I hope you liked this chapter! I did get one review that was anonymous, and by the way I would really love for you to come off anon, it was a really good review because it told me all the faults that they found with the story, and those are the reviews I love the most because I need to be shot down so I can improve my stories. If you find something wrong with my story I'm always open for ideas so feel free to bitch and edit all you want, I need to hear it. **

**Please review though! I'll make you a deal, if I get reviews I'll update this week and if I get 10 I'll update within two days! I'll leave it up to you! **

**-Sarah **


End file.
